Home is
by Yuki Suou
Summary: . . . where the heart is. Not where dynamites are, definitely no grenades and what the hell is with those people with forehead flames and gun wielding babies? What do you mean mafia? In which, Shiori's life is upturned because her mother thought their house was too quite. OC. Drabble-ish.
1. Dream come true

**Chapter 1: Dream come true**

Shiori took one look at her mother's face and decided to hightail it out of there.

That gleeful expression along with the dreaded l-had-a-lightbulb-moment spelt nothing but disaster for the involved party. Involved party except her mother, who drew her energy from the chaos that her _plans_ produced.

A true sadist, that one. And she had wondered where her sister got it from.

Her father sent her a pleading look from behind the newspaper which was promptly ignored, despite her reputation of being a bleeding heart. To each their own, she thought. Her help ended with a sympathetic nod and she was already down the stairs, crossed the drawing room halfway, just a little bit more and then the shoe rack and freedom-

"Shi-chan~"

Damn it.

She moved towards the source of her dread, her back slouched and arms hanging at the side. Suppressing a groan of frustration, she gave her father a stink eye for his all too smug expression before calling out, "Yes, mom?"

Her mother giggled (she shivered, that lady had an uncanny ability of making impending doom sound more, well, doom-y), as she set down a plate of omelet in front of the man hiding behind the newspaper, "Now, no need to make that face, you were not planning on leaving without breakfast, where you?" No, she wasn't exactly _planning_ on it, it was more of a spur of the moment thing. The woman put down two more plates and ordered her, "Come sit."

Did she imagine the evil glint in her eyes? Probably.

* * *

Father and daughter stared at the excited woman blankly.

"It's a great idea!" She said, emphasis on 'great'.

"No", Shiori deadpanned.

"Absolutely not." Her father agreed.

"But, Toshi!" Her mother whined. "Akane's room has been empty since her marriage." Somehow, she summoned a doom and gloom aura around her, sniffling slightly. The man looked uncomfortable. "The house is not so lively anymore, what with you always swamped with your work and Shiori being Shiori." " _What is that supposed to mean?"_ She even added a dreary sigh at the end. "It is too quiet."

"Shizuka, you have a job as well." Toshi, that is Nakamura Toshiro tried. "The house remains empty as it is."

"Yeah", Shiori supported. "Besides, you cannot just rent it! Who knows what kind of thugs might want to stay. And then rob us blind. And kill us."

"You are going a bit overboard, there Shi. I'll take only students." Shizuka was too dignified to roll her eyes, but the sentiment was there. "It isn't as if people don't rent their apartments for home-stay. And I'll do a video-call before I let them stay, I'm not an idiot."

Not everything can be said from just face, mom!

"Students can be delinquents too!" She was grasping at straws but it was true, her father already looked sold at the idea!

"It might not be that bad", mused Toshi, as she looked on with growing horror, "you'll get a new friend?"

"Exactly!", came the enthusiastic reply.

She sighed, concentrating on food.

"I might let you keep the earnings," the brown haired woman said with a cheeky smile.

She received a glare from her daughter in return.

* * *

A week has passed and there was no further discussion on the topic, at least in front of her. Studies took up a lot of time and her home being a bit too far away from school, she had to take a train everyday. Not that she would admit, since she was one to choose the school, but the journey was wearing her down. She almost fell asleep on dinner table everday, so most likely, all conversation flew above her head.

On Friday, she came home to see the one of the ground floor rooms that her sister used to stay in had been cleared off and the bare necessities were already in position.

"You were serious," she felt faint.

Her mother absolutely beamed. "Of course!" Shooing her to her own room she added, "And clean your pigsty! We don't want him to get a bad impression."

"Him." She deadpanned.

Her mother nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, kid looked pretty desperate. Guess the low cost drew him in."

"When is he arriving?"

"His flight lands tomorrow evening." Humming happily, the infuriating woman was already deciding on what to cook.

"Flight." And here she thought she couldn't be more surprised.

"Hm. He's from Italy. And such a polite kid too."

"I'll judge that." She muttered as she went upstairs to flop down on her messy bed. "Hopefully he is not a serial killer or something."

Next day evening, she opened the door to come face to face with a tall, platinum blonde- almost silver-haired boy with sharp teal eyes. He executed a perfect bow, before straightening and introducing himself.

"Hello, I'm Gokudera Hayato. Thank you for taking me in."

Well, at least her dream of having a cute neighbour came true.

* * *

 **Author's note:** welp, new fanfic. Will be updated irregularly since I'm stress writing. Gokudera/ OC for now.

Unbeta-ed: 18/12/2017.


	2. Wariness

Chapter 2: Wariness

"He looks like a thug!" Shiori hissed once their new tenant was shown his room and invited for dinner. "Just- just look at those piercings and rings." She sniffed the air once, twice. "And is that the smell of cigarettes?"

A _hot_ thug, but still a thug.

The look her mother gave in return was quite scathing. "He is just a poor, misguided boy," Shizuka said, not easing on the glare. "And weren't you the one who always say to not judge people by their appearance?"

Shiori grimaced at that. Her mother placed a hand on her shoulders, gently rubbing it. "That boy has been through a lot. Give him a chance please?" She opened her mouth to speak, but the soft expression on the older woman's face stopped her. "I know you hate to give away Akane's room to a complete stranger, ( _"That's not it," she protested._ ) but it will be all right in the end."

She sighed and continued peeling the potatoes, drooping the matter.

For _now_.

* * *

If there was a live example of textbook definition of politeness, Gokudera Hayato would be that. He smiled when he was supposed to smile, agreed at the right places and his manners were impeccable. Toshiro's shoulders relaxed slightly, draining it of the tension he wasn't aware of having. Shiori was setting the table as he explained how he is originally from Japan and had transferred to Italy after his parents' death.

He caught her glancing at his hair and said, "My mother was Italian."

"I'm so sorry about your loss," steered the conversation smoothly. "What happened, if you don't mind me asking?"

The silver haired boy shook his head. "No, it's- I can't- I mean, I can talk about it now. It was a car accident, they were returning from a business trip."

"You don't have any immediate family?" Shiori asked hesitantly. She couldn't imagine losing both her father and mother in one fell swoop. She felt a bit bad about her previous behaviour.

He glanced at her before turning his gaze to his plate as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. "I had an aunt. She died a few years ago." He said, before noting the concerned look on their face. He shrugged, "She died of illness. We weren't that close anyway."

"Oh, now stop bothering the boy, you two," Shizuka scolded, placing down the serving bowls one by one. Exchanging a deadpan look with her father, Shiori replied as she went to help, "Relax mom, we were just getting to know him. We weren't bothering you, we're we?"

He gave them a small smile.

Dinner was uneventful with small talks being mostly regarding what Italy was like and how different he was finding it in Japan. It was nice hearing about him talk animatedly about his country and schooling and Shiori thought, maybe, maybe having a house guest wouldn't be so bad after all. Already, that despondent look in his eyes had lessened somewhat.

And when her father told him to come to them for any kind of help if he required it, she could've sworn that his suave smile became the teensiest bit wobbly.

 _Boys_ , she thought, rolling her eyes.

* * *

That was two days ago. It was Wednesday already-

"What's the dreamy face for, Shi-chan?"

An annoyingly cheerful and familiar voice broke her out of her reveries, Asahina Miu, the resident pretty girl and class clown popping up in front of her. She received a scandalized look in return.

"I don't do dreamy look." She deadpanned.

Miu pouted. "Oh, come on! You totally had that look." Her face took on a thoughtful expression. "Were you thinking of food?".

Shiori rolled her eyes. "I do not think of food all the time." At the raised eyebrow, she amended, "Not always."

She hadn't even noticed when the teacher had left the classroom and recess had started. Putting her pen and book away, she took out her lunchbox, and waved a sandwich in front of the exuberant girl's face, grinning at her cross-eyed expression. "I just have a lot in my mind", she admitted. Miu made an unintelligible noise at that, her mouth full already having chomped on the offered food. Shiori bit her lip before continuing, "Mom rented out Aka-nee's room."

Her friend stared. Continued staring. And then stared some more.

"To tourists?" She asked.

She received a grimace in return. "He is a student actually." She paused before adding, "A middle school student."

The staring didn't stop.

"He is from Italy." She offered.

"Let me get this straight." Miu ticked off her fingers, "Your mom rented out your house. To a middle school student. From Italy. Who is staying at a foreign country without parental supervision?" Shiori nodded at her questioning look. The other girl tilted her head,"I got everything, right?"

Shiori sighed. "His parents died in a car accident."

"Why has he come to Japan all the way from Italy?"

"He is half-Japanese." She said, snatching the last piece from her gluttonous friend. Truly, birds of the same feather flock together. "He is originally from Japan."

"Uh-huh", Miu said dubiously, before finishing her sandwich. Then placing her hands over her shoulder, she leant down and looked into her eyes, expression serious, all signs of mirth gone. "I'm sorry to say this, but you are going to die."

"Hey!" came the indignant shout.

"Who is gonna die?"

Both of them turned to look at the source of the voice. Ito Asahi cocked his head and stared at them.

Immediately, Miu let go of her friend to latch on to him. "This is a grave situation, Asahi-kun." She began her dramatized and quite unneeded explanation, "Shi-chan has rented their house to a juvenile murderer and is going to die next."

The volleyball club's spiker turned to her, eyes wide. "Pipsqueak, what happened? What did you do now? Did your mom piss off the mafia or something?"

"Hilarious," she said flatly, her thinned lips not finding the hilarity of the situation. She glared at the annoying noirette, whose exclamation had drawn the attention of the rest of the students. "And stop calling me that!" She added belatedly, fixing her glare on the not-sheepish looking volley player.

By the time everything had been explained (No, she was not hosting a murderer; yes he was cute; no, dying in the hands of a cute person was in NO way a good enough death and no, she or her mother definitely did not piss off any gang members, she was completely sane, thank you very much.), the recess was almost over. That didn't stop her classmates from throwing out their advice though.

She smiled and assured them that she was no way in any danger (despite her misgivings) and she would definitely ask for their help if anything was amiss.

She wanted to believe her own words, but a chill ran down her spine as she recalled the meeting last night.

"I'm more worried about the suited baby," she muttered under her breath as the bell rang. "And I can't believe that actually made sense."

* * *

 **Author's note:** OK, does he seem OOC? If he does, I have an explanation ready if anyone is interested.

Thanks for the follows and favourites, and to the wonderful **Stop'nGo girl** for reviewing.

And I'm using the Japanese convention of names.

There is an omake of her meeting Reborn, I'll add it later.

Unbetaed: 18/03/2018


End file.
